Despite the awful smell this place has, we had planned to return while in the area to book our hotel for the last part of our trip; Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. With that done on the afternoon we arrived it was time to book the other reason we came here again, White Water Sledging J We booked our 3 hour return trip for a lunchtime pick up from the hostel (they have the whole tourist thing sorted over here) this gave us a good lay in and still time to get everything sorted for the next couple days hostels we had to book. We were picked up on time, driven to their base to get changed and shown the safety stuff; we all piled into the van ‘suited & booted’ and ready to go. When we were looking at the White Water we realised why the Hard hats, Life jackets, booties and very strict safety briefing. You jump into the river just below a 4 mtr’ waterfall, so the water is swirling around and creates a ‘lively’ entry point; now we knew why we had 3 guides for 9 of us. Em was the first person in out of the group, she jumped in as told, and facing where told and held on like she was told too; but as soon as Em hit the water the full power was seen by us all. In the blink of an eye Em was taken by the river towards the rock face, Em had listened to the briefing and approached the rocks ‘butt’ first; the guide advised her what to do and Em reached the calmer waters on the other side safely if a little out of breath. Then it was my turn, watching Em prepared me for what I thought would happen; but the same happened to me but being prepared I didn’t go as far off line as Em. All 9 off us went off line, some more than others but it prepared us for what was to come a little later. After of guides had shown us how to roll, flip and steer the sledge we were on our way down river to the first set of rapids; a whole 10 seconds into our run. We were told where to position our heads on impact with the water, and we were told to kick out and get out of them straight away; the person in front of Em didn’t understand that bit so Em hit them HARD. The Rapids didn’t concern Em in the slightest, but the thought of hitting or being hit by another made us all wake up; this after hearing Em’ shoot above the noise of the rushing waters all around us. Em hit the other persons Sledge hard, at the time it felt ‘sore’ but later that day and the following day; the size of her bruise was to show how ‘sore’ it had been. We had a full 1 ½ rolling down the River and Rapids, and I must say that even after seeing how hard this sport actually is; at no point did Em & I fear for the other the guides where exactly what you wanted patient, sharp and knew where and what everyone was doing at all times. Highly recommended for a half day of fun. After we were changed and waiting for or drop off back to the hostel, I noticed a gent wearing a ‘Cooper Tyre A1 GP’ hat; asking if he went and did he enjoy the race his answer took my breath away. His answer “We go to all the races, were the tyre service crew” You LUCKY bu**ers what a job, we got talking and Em & I have been told to get into the pit lane walk at the British Grand Prix; pop our heads into the Tyre garage and say hello to see if he can get us back scenes. Hey, you never know? Em & I had a fun filled night just a bottle of Wine talking over what we had done in the last 3 days.
